With just one year of crime statistics from the city’s private student housing complexes, it was hard for the members of the mayor’s Student Housing Task Force to draw any definitive trends or analysis. But the group was urged on Wednesday to begin drawing some conclusions and making some recommendations by one of its members, a notion supported by city staff officials.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

With just one year of crime statistics from the city’s private student housing complexes, it was hard for the members of the mayor’s Student Housing Task Force to draw any definitive trends or analysis.But the group was urged on Wednesday to begin drawing some conclusions and making some recommendations by one of its members, a notion supported by city staff officials.Task force member Robert Reynolds, one of two representatives from the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, said that it was his understanding that Mayor Walt Maddox was ready to start seeing some results.Among them, Reynolds said, was the idea that no rezoning request to accommodate large student complexes would be approved except those within a designated area near the University of Alabama campus.With just three more scheduled meetings — the task force has been meeting every other Wednesday since Sept. 4 — time is running out on debating any recommendations that would be sent to the mayor and City Council.“I think (Mayor Walt Maddox) would love it if you had some advice to give sooner rather than later,” said John McConnell, director of the city’s Planning and Development Services.Regarding the crime statistics, task force member Robert Parsons took on the duty of assembling the data provided by Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson last month and showed statistics that indicated some complexes had a bigger problem with serious crimes than others.The crime data from 2012 focused on nine apartment complexes across Tuscaloosa: Court Woods, Rivermont, Bent Tree, Boardwalk at Brittain Landing, Campus Way, Crimson Student Living, the Retreat at Lake Tamaha, The Woodlands of Tuscaloosa and The Reserve at North River.Parsons said the police chief listed several crimes in the “serious incidents” category. These included burglaries, discharging firearms or any incident involving a firearm, drugs, homicides, robberies, sexual assaults such as rape and thefts involving vehicles. “Honestly, there’s nothing compelling,” Parsons said of the statistics.However, during the task force’s crime subcommittee question-and-answer session with the chief, a meeting that was not open to the public, Parsons said that Anderson provided more insight than the numbers revealed.Collecting students into large student complexes made them targets for crime, while encouraging herd-like behavior and allowing students to engage in activities they may not otherwise take part in, Parsons said.Additionally, crimes rates are lower at complexes with a security gate or security guard on-site and higher at complexes in more isolated areas, Parsons said.Also, crime rates have steadily increased in older student housing complexes as new ones open up. As students move to the newer complexes, they are replaced with non-students, such as those seeking housing through the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority — an issue that spiked in the wake of the April 27, 2011, tornado, Parsons said.The chief encouraged the use of surveillance cameras and on-premise security services as critical elements in deterring criminal activity, Parsons said.The group also heard from task force member Julie Elmore, the assistant director of off-campus and Greek housing at the University of Alabama, and Madalyn Vaughn, who was added to the task force to represent the UA student community, on data they collected from surveys and focus groups with students about what they look for in off-campus student complexes.Freshmen and upperclassmen alike consider price and proximity to campus when choosing a place to live, but it is the sophomores and juniors that put a higher emphasis on the amenities offered by these complexes — pools, recreational areas, the like — more than the older students.